Quick Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight closeup © Kevin Ashton 2023
Turkish Delight closeup © Kevin Ashton 2023

Shortly before Christmas I was teaching a chocolate truffle course online.  This year I decided to add a little something different to the mix of petit fours and make some Turkish delight. My starting point for my research was to look online but many of the recipes took too long to make, were thickened with cornflour and involved endless stirring.  Then I remembered an old candy cookbook I owned that dates back to 1980’s whilst living in the US and this was the starting point for the recipe I created.

For my class, I finished some of the Turkish delight in a traditional way by dusting the pieces in icing sugar mix* and some I dipped in dark chocolate in homage to a childhood memory of a UK candy bar called Fry’s Turkish Delight.

At a recent dinner party my Turkish delight was a big hit even with a Persian guest who asked me for the recipe.

Ingredients makes about 45 pieces
120ml water
400 grams castor sugar
2 ½ Tbsp gelatin powder (2 Sachets = 24 grams)
60ml cold water
120 ml orange juice and lemon juice (1 ½ medium oranges & ½ lemon)
A few drops red food colouring
¾ Tbsp rose flavoured water

  1. Cook the 120 ml of water with the castor sugar until in reaches 124 C (255 F) ,remove from the heat.
  2. Soften gelatin with the cold water for 5 minutes (just before the sugar reaches temperature).
  3. Add gelatin to the sugar syrup and stir well to help disolve the gelatin.
  4. Next add the orange juice & lemon juice, rose water and a few drops of red dye and stir well.
  5. Skim the top of the mixture to remove the scum.
  6. Strain through a fine sieve and pour into a oiled nonstick loaf tin. I used a 9inch (23cm) loaf tin that is 2 ¾ inch  (7cm) deep.
  7. Leave this to set completely overnight in the refrigerator.
  8. Warm the loaf tin in hot water for 8-10 seconds to loosen the turkish delight then turn out onto a piece of slightly wet baking paper.
  9. With a sharp clean wet knife cut into even sized pieces.
  10. For a traditional finish to your Turkish delight, toss the pieces in a mixture of icing sugar and cornflour (*90% icing sugar 10% cornflour ) then shake to remove most of coating.
  11. Alternatively, you can coat the Turkish delight in dark chocolate by melting 150 grams dark chocolate, but try to keep temperature just below 32 C.
  12. Line a baking tray with nonstick baking paper.
  13. Dip the pieces of Turkish delight in the dark chocolate making sure they are well covered, then lay the dipped pieces of turkish delight onto the lined baking tray.
Slicing my Turkish Delight with my Syosaku Sujihiki knife.
Slicing my Turkish delight with my Syosaku Sujihiki knife.

Below is the brand of rose water I used to flavour my Turkish delights.  I believe it is available in both the UK and the US. Rose water can vary greatly in strength so I would recommend using the same brand as I have if possible.

nielsen-massey-rose-water-4-oz-1536x1700

Quick Turkish Delight© Kevin Ashton 2022

31 thoughts on “Quick Turkish Delight”

  1. Thanks Kevin for the lesson.
    I’m looking forward to having a go at the Truffles and this Turkish Delight later in the month. Were celebrating Christmas and New Year later in the month as most of us were ill.
    I remember Fry’s Turkish Delight. I even remember the advert 😃

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    1. Thanks Mo,
      Sorry to hear you and your family were ill over Christmas. Please feel free to ask any questions about the truffle recipes and the Turkish Delight.
      Best Wishes
      Kevin

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    1. Thanks Elvira, I hope you will give the recipe a try. Let me take this time to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy New Year, your kind wishes and thoughts and very much appreciated.
      Best Wishes
      Kevin

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  4. Hi Kevin
    I seem to remember my mother having these candies around when I was a child. I think they come with nuts also and I’m not a fan of nuts with this sort of chewy candy.
    I will be making gummies with cannabis at some point. I’ve grown two varieties and have plenty of hash to work with.
    I want to make cannabis oil also for pain. I can get arthritis in my big toes, so having something to rub on them at night would be helpful.

    Teri

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    1. It’s a light and delicious sweet little item that goes great at the end of a meal. This past Christmas I made Turkish delight as part of my online Chocolate truffle class. I also offered them to dinner guests and was please when my Persian friend said she wanted the recipe.

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  14. I read the title of this post and it gave me an idea. Turkish Delight plays a prominent role in one of the. books in my reading circle for children – The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis. Why not end the last session with this activity. Making ones own Turkish Delight!

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    1. I think that sound like a lot of fun to include some cooking skills in your reading group.

      From time to time I visit Primary schools in my area and give cooking lessons to parents and children. Cooking is fundimental to life at yet many UK parents from poorer backgrounds are in need of cooking skills to improve their diets.

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